Product roadmap maker
Swimlanes per team, quarters along the tape, initiatives as bars you can drag. Build the roadmap for your next planning review and export it straight into the deck.
Dates or Now / Next / Later?
There are two common roadmap styles, and the argument between them is really about how certain you are.
A date-based roadmap puts every initiative in a quarter. Sales, marketing and finance love it because they can plan launches and budgets against it. The risk is that a bar you are 30% sure about looks exactly as solid as one already in progress.
A Now / Next / Later roadmap, popularised by Janna Bastow of ProdPad, drops dates and sorts work into three horizons. It is honest about uncertainty but gives other teams less to plan against.
Toggle the model and drag the confidence slider to see the trade-off. A common compromise: dated bars for the current and next quarter, a "Later" lane beyond that — which you can build here by adding a Later category.
3 of 6 bars are promises your team is less than 70% sure it can keep. On a date-based roadmap they still look exactly as solid as the rest.
Writing a roadmap people actually read
- Name bars by outcome. "Faster checkout" tells the CEO why it matters; "Cart service refactor" doesn't.
- Three to five lanes. One per team or strategic theme. More than that and it stops fitting a slide.
- Show milestones, not every release. Betas, launches and external commitments as diamonds.
- Date it and version it. Put "Updated June 2027" in the subtitle; duplicate the timeline each quarter so you can compare plans over time.
Need a detailed schedule under the roadmap? Switch this same data to the Gantt layout, or start from the Gantt chart maker. For go-to-market plans, try the marketing campaign template.
Roadmap questions
What is a product roadmap?
A product roadmap is a shared, high-level plan of what a product team intends to build and roughly when, grouped by theme or team. It communicates direction and priorities; the detailed task schedule lives in a backlog or Gantt chart.
What should a product roadmap include?
At minimum: the time horizon (quarters or Now/Next/Later), lanes for teams or themes, the initiatives as bars named by outcome, and key milestones such as betas and launches. Many teams add a one-line goal per lane.
Can I make a roadmap in PowerPoint with this?
Yes. Build it here in the Roadmap lanes view and choose Export → PowerPoint. The slide uses native shapes you can restyle, so it drops straight into a planning deck.
How far ahead should a roadmap go?
Most product teams plan in detail for one quarter and in outline for two to four quarters. Beyond a year, dates are guesses — a Now/Next/Later format is more honest for that horizon.
Is my roadmap shared with anyone?
No. It is stored only in your browser. To share it, export an image, PDF, PowerPoint or JSON file.